No surprises from the City Council

We agree with Bogart; they don’t.

And so we endorse Bogart’s suggestion that the City Council approve what could be called the “no surprises” policy.

Councilors tabled the proposal during their Tuesday meeting, at which Bogart unveiled the idea.

Bogart and Councilor Milo Pope, who said he likes the concept, will draft a policy for the Council to consider during its Feb. 23 meeting.

The basic idea is straightforward: The Council will vote on only those matters that were listed on the agenda for the meeting during which the vote occurs.

In other words, if the agenda for a meeting lists four topics, councilors won’t make any decisions regarding a fifth topic at that meeting.

That’s an important distinction. Inviting discussion of topics, even if they’re not immediately resolved, ensures that the citizens participation portion of Council meetings remains a meaningful forum for constituents.

Since councilors don’t know which issues citizens will bring up during a meeting, the city can’t put those items on the agenda.

Although Oregon’s public meetings law requires city councils to make agendas available to the public prior to meetings, the law doesn’t prohibit councils from voting on subjects that aren’t listed on the agenda.

By approving the policy Bogart proposes, city councilors would show that their committment to open and transparent government is stronger than even the otherwise laudable state law dictates.

Which is a pretty good thing to be committed to.

Besides which, the policy that councilors discussed Tuesday certainly fulfills the spirit of the state law, even as it goes beyond the letter.

Here’s what the law says: “The Oregon form of government requires an informed public aware of the deliberations and decisions of governing bodies and the information upon which such decisions were made.”

To put it another way, a city council should not tell the public, by way of an agenda, that it’s going to decide whether to pave a street, and then, during the same meeting, vote to increase residents’ water rates.

To be clear, we have seen little evidence that the Baker City Council is prone to that sort of political sleight-of-hand.

As Councilor Beverly Calder pointed out Tuesday, councilors in many cases don’t make a final decision on a matter until it’s been listed on the agenda for two or more meetings. The city charter actually requires the Council to take its time when approving ordinances.

However, the Council’s most controversial decision of the past several years — the 4-3 vote to fire City Manager Steve Brocato on June 9, 2009 — was conspicuously absent from the agenda for that meeting.

Had Bogart’s policy been in place last June, the Council could not have voted to fire Brocato at the June 9 meeting.

Councilors could, however, have scheduled an emergency meeting — as soon as the next day — and made the decision then.

Bogart said his goal is to ensure that the City Council’s “meetings and decisions are as open and available to the public as we can make them.”

We’d be surprised if anybody objects to that.